RED FLAG LAWS & UNFUNDED MANDATES: The Demand for More Never Ends
/RED FLAG LAWS & UNFUNDED MANDATES: The Demand for More Never Ends
By: Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Red flag laws are impossible to effectively enforce. We within the justice system knew that when they were introduced. What most want in terms of crime and justice improvements won’t happen because of staffing and budget issues. But that won’t stop the endless, unrealistic demands. And people wonder why we don’t improve?
Most of what I read about crime and justice is from advocates demanding more. It will never change. There comes a point where I want to scream at everyone insisting on more services. “Fine,” is my answer. “Just get us the money. Just shut up unless you can provide the funds.” I say this while noting that 70 percent of what’s written about crime and justice would disappear overnight if you took new but unfunded initiatives off the table.
The federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an example. We decided to make our system of air transport safe. It took billions of dollars and 54,000 new employees. But it worked because we decided to fund and staff it correctly. Unless we are willing to make similar commitments (but on a much smaller scale), we are peeing into the wind.
We have an exodus of police officers leaving the job, yet every newspaper article I read addressing growing crime includes calls for more cops and more aggressive policing or specialized units focusing on everything from sex crimes to domestic violence to child welfare to speeders.
We are decades behind in DNA checks. Do you think we do this purposely?
We have about 14,000 officers leaving the job in recent years and thousands more are in the process of leaving. There are endless media stories of cities not being able to respond to basic 911 calls.
We demoralized every cop in the country through endless criticism (yes, some of it was justified) and the defund the police movement. We stereotyped a million police employees based on the illegal and unethical actions of a few, yet we want apprehensive cops taking on more difficult and dangerous tasks without sufficient staffing and funds? I don’t think that’s how it works.
Red Flag Laws and Unfunded Mandates
We all agree that people with mental health issues, especially those with a commitment to custody, shouldn’t have access to firearms. We all agree that felons, especially those with violent or domestic abuse histories, should not have guns.
Depending on how states define their laws and understanding that thousands get access to firearms because of limitations of FBI record checks, it creates hundreds of thousands of violators.
What’s the definition of mental illness? What happens if someone becomes stabilized? Is there an appeal process? Can the courts handle appeals while being years behind because of COVID? Do we have sufficient numbers of law enforcement officers to enforce it? There is nothing wrong with red flag laws beyond the fact that it’s impossible to make them work.
Much of the discussions on red flag laws attempts to deal with mass shooters, but the majority of them have no criminal history or history of mental illness.
Mass killers usually don’t have criminal records. Researchers at Columbia University analyzed 1,315 mass murders of all types worldwide between 1900 and 2019 and found that 20% of mass killers had histories of being subject to a restraining order, arrest or incarceration.
Several studies confirm that most shooters who kill four or more victims are not psychotic or hallucinatory and haven’t been treated for mental health problems. An analysis of Columbia University’s mass murder database shows that 11% of all mass murderers had serious mental illness - USA Today.
We attempt to “control” mass shootings with red flag laws knowing that the impact is negligible.
This isn’t a red flag story. It’s a rant about the unrealistic expectations of those demanding what we in the justice system cannot provide.
It applies to corrections. States can’t hire enough correctional officers. Thousands are leaving their jobs. Correctional officers are working endless amounts of overtime. National Guard interventions are possible. Critics want every conceivable program for inmates yet there are no additional funds. The federal First Step Act was doomed from the start. Parole and probation agents carry caseloads of 150-200 offenders or more.
Every one of us in the system fully understood that when red flag laws were introduced, they would never work sufficiently. Why? Because if fully enforced, there would be hundreds of thousands of people identified requiring an army of cops and civilian employees we don’t have to enforce the law. We don’t have the judicial or correctional or mental health capacities to deal with them. Hell, even the nation’s newer mental health hotline is woefully underfunded with unanswered calls.
Taking guns out of the hands of the mentally ill or people with violent histories? We endlessly beat up on cops, but we want them to do the risky stuff that will be the subject of tons of newspaper ink when the inevitable negative news story happens. Can you think of a more difficult or dangerous police mission unless it’s adequately staffed and funded?
Every one of us in the system shakes our heads at the renewed calls for proactive policing, the one modality with a proven research base (hundreds of studies) indicating that it reduces crime (there are no other proven initiatives) after years of being criticized for incidents that go south. What used to be routine is now in jeopardy because cops no longer trust politicians or the public. Do we have the person power to return to proactivity? No!
Spend one day looking at progressive digital publications or media reports and tally the costs of demanded police or correctional or judicial initiatives that cities or states don’t have a chance in Hades of providing.
No, we’re not going back to jury trials. We plea bargain 95 percent (after prosecutors drop 30 percent of cases) because we have no choice. No, we’re not going to provide college educations to inmates. We don’t have the money to provide basic correctional education services.
The worthiness of the project is irrelevant. The demand for more we don’t have never ends. By the way, most demanded initiatives have little to nothing in terms of independent research to support new expenditures. Advocates will swear they are effective and will save states money.
We within the justice system must hold ourselves accountable to politicians, the community and the media; it comes with the job. Yes, equal treatment under the law is what we pledge to do and and must do. We must do better.
But from my first day on the job to the last, we all understood that what people demand and what our person power and budgets allow is simply out of sync. It’s also impossible to provide 40 million yearly police contacts without mistakes.
Show me the money!!! The justice system won’t improve or give people what they want or need until we come to grips with that reality.
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.is a retired federal senior spokesperson. A former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public Affairs - University of Maryland. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Past police officer. Aspiring drummer. Operator of CrimeinAmerica.net. His book based on thirty-five years of criminal justice public relations,” Success with the Media: Everything You Need to Survive Reporters and Your Organization” is available at Amazon and additional booksellers. He can also be found @ leonardsipes.com
